The Caribouhorses
by Hono no Tora
Summary: With their homes destroyed by the Equalists, a group of close freinds and siblings from a rual town in the United Republic must make their way in Republic City as story writers, artists, Probenders, and in Equestrian sports/ Rodeos and find a way to help Korra and the rest of Team Avatar defeat Amon and his extreamist followers.
1. Chapter 1 Prologue

**This is my first fanfic I've posted on the site. It's still kinda hazey to me (I write as I go along, with very little plot to go on, so if you have suggestions, there's always the review box) Sorry that this chapter is so painfully short and focuses mainly on the Caribouhorses themselves. I'll legthen it later by telling you who is who and such.** **Maybe even some clips of the event of the burning or something. hope you somewhat enjoy and KEEP READING. Disclaimer: I do not own the concept of Pro-bending, Bending, the Avatar, the Equalists, Amon, or any of the other Avatarverse stuff. Just Caribouhorses, and the 5 main characters here. Maybe some more critters and characters later on ;).**

The distant sounds of liondogs barking and caribouhorses whinnying...still in sleep's relaxing embrace, the sounds were only dim lulabys for my dreams...Heat...It was a cold night, so it only acted as an extera blanket to sleep's soothing cradle...An electric buzz and a scream...Those sere what forced me out of my Dreamland, like rising out of deep water all too quickly. I looked around, still in a sleep-induced haze, confused and scared. I swung my legs off the bed, and put them flat on the floor, feeling a familiar and reassuring connection with the earth. (our floors were terricotta tiles) I tried to take a deep breath, only find it too choked with smoke to do so, and coughed a bit before calling out, "Mom! Dad! Where are you?" No respense ever came. Not ever again.

Panicked, and not knowing what else to do, I ran outside. Just as I did, Sora, my buckskinpaint Caribouhorse came trotting up to me, nickering and whinnying frantically. The red haze of the sky immediately told me why. _Fire_. Our entire village was set ablaze.

Sora had on his halter and a lead rope (I figured someone else tried to run off with him), so I tied the lead rope to the other side of his halter to fation a pair of reigns. Grasping hold of his dark mane, I hauled myself up onto his back, ducking to avoid a velvety antler from whacking me in the face. to prevent that from happening, I collected his face, which made the antlers point in a safer direction. I gave him a good kick, and he went foreward, on to Umi's house.

"Umi!" I cried out. I could hear little Kaeru screaming from inside their burning home. I could faintly hear Umi shouting orders at her little sister, Nokoribi. I went ahead and ran inside.

When Umi saw me, releif crossed her face. "Mori, thank the Spirits!"

"Yeah," I agreed. Umi handed me Kaeru, her three-year-old brother, and I swiftly carried him in my arms safely outside, where I set him on Sora's back. I knew Kaeru wouldn't try to climb down from there. I was about to run back inside to help Umi and Nokoribi, but they were already at the door, walking out. Umi and I looked at eachother and we had a silent agreement that we should go let out the Caribouhorses.

"Nokoribi, stay here and look after Kaeru," Umi commanded.

"And Sora," I added. Instead of the usual arguement that would have insued, Nokoribi took the orders with an obidient nod.

"Where are your parents?" I asked Umi as we were headed to the stables.

"Holding off the Equalists," was her respose.

"Eqalsists?" I inquired.

"Anti-benders," she clarified.

"Oh Spirits!" that didn't sound very good. I was releived when Umi didn't return the questoin.

We ran inside the stables, Caribouhorses whinnying and wailing, all rearing frantically. We went around and unlocked every stall, letting the horses go so that they wouldn't get cooked in their own stalls. When Umi unlocked her own Caribouhorse's, Kawa, a blue roan, she pointed in the direction of her own house. Kawa understood, and bolted out the door towards her owners burning home with Sora. I went over and unlocked the stall of Nokoribi's own horse, Kasai, a firey sorrel. I did the same as Umi, and she, too, obayed. Then I walked over to another freind's horse's stall. Karasu was this ones owner, and this Caribouhorse was nearly black with a flaxen mane and tail. Again, I gave the command to run to Umi's house.

We let the rest of the horses free, then ran back home to our horses. As soon as wwe got there, Nokoribi mounted her own mare, I mounted Sora, Umi mounted Kawa, with Kaeru in front of her, and I took hold of Karasu's Caribouhorse, whose name was Yoru, by the halter. I rode out to Karasu's house, which had only just caught aflame. I saw her and her parents flee from their front door, and I managed to carefully Pull up parallel to Karasu. This was good timing, you see, for she had just been pleading with her parents so that she could go grab Yoru and bring him back. She immediately mounted him and took off with me, her parents seeming, with good reason, incredibly worried about the situation at hand.

As we took off, Umi, Kaeru and Nokoribi met up with us. As we began to ride out, i cought glimpse of a dark figure. He wore large, red striped shoulder pads. He was also hooded. As he turned to them, a slump figure fell to the ground. When he turned, a nearby house that had caught fire lit up a pale, expressionless face, and there seemed to be a red circle on the forehead. Then it occured to me that it had to be a mask, for it heald the same, cold expression the whold time we were charging forward. That was when i realized that the next people in line were Umi's parents.

"NO!" she cried, seeng the same thing as I. Kawa pulled ahead of the rest of us, Umi raging on her back. I charged ahead of her, for I realized that she still had Kaeru on board, and if these guys were as bad as this one looked, then I couldn't let either of them get hurt. I let loose a loud battle cry, and before the masked man could turn back around to us, I ran up to the group of people with the glowing green goggles. I hit a very certain button on Sora that said, "REAR!" and so he did. His cloven hooves struck two Equalists on the head. They fell to the ground with a pair of yelps. Before annyone could do anything else, I breathed in, bringing my hands up, horizontally, palms up, then growled and shoved them back down, face down, creating a deep, not-to-mention steep bank, with a large amount of Equalists inside. I knew that they could eventually get out, but it was enough to keep them occupied for a while. I pushed Sora forward, and he jumped over the ditch. I landed next to Umi's parents, who were hand cuffed with metal shackles.

"Come on! We can still all get away!" I cried out.

"No, not now!" said Umi's father. "Now's not the time!"

"Then when is the time!" I retorted.

"Later!" answered Umi's mother. "Flee to Republic City! You'll be safer there!"

"But-"

"Jsut go! Never let Umi, Kaeru or Nokoribi behind!"

I could see that they were dead serious. If anything happened to any of them, i was dead meat. "I won't!" I promised to them, and myself. I loved them too much to let anything happed. I scoured the line for my own parents, but not a single face even closely resembled them. Fighting back the tears, I jumped back over the ditch. I galloped up to the others, saying, "Your parents told me that we have to go to Republic City!"

"W-why?" Nokoribi obviously didn't want to go.

"They said we'd be safer there." I didn't want to go either (I hated cities) but we had no choice.

And so, with several more protests, and reluctance and nostalgia tugging sharply into my heart, we rode away, away from the smoke, away from the flames, away from hatred, for now, and into the cool, moist night...

Our home had been burned down. There was nothing left for the five of us in the little rual village of Tai-Gen. We had to move on. We had to be strong if we were going to survive now. We had to survive, if not only to see the end of the Anti-bending campaign.


	2. Chapter 2: the Bending Battle

Chapter 2

The whistle blew; round three. We had to make this round, or we'd be out of the season. Right off the bat, Nokoribi and I threw what we had at the Tigerseals. I had my feet planted and threw two earth discs at the Tigerseal Firebender's gut, and he went flying through the air into zone two. The buzzard sounded. _Yes! _

Nokoribi was kicking and punching fireballs at the Tigerseal Earthbender, knocking her back on the front edge of zone three. Yet again, the buzzard sounded. Man, was that woman in a dozy. Nokoribi was going so fast, that she hardly had any time to think, let alone defend herself. Two more decisive kicks, and the Earthbender was in the drink.

"Nice!" I called out to her, and she grinned back at me. She loved being praised by me and Umi.

Umi wasn't on such a roll. She was going head to head with the Tigerseal Waterbender. Both were drenched from the past towo rounds. Umi was constantly going back to the basics of waterbending; turn your opponent's offense into your defense. Every time the opposing Waterbender threw something at her, she very elegantly turned it back towards her opponent. He saw what she was doing, and they both started playing the same game. The Tigerseal was shoving the water back herder at her than she was at him. That was causing Umi to very slowly get pushed back towards zone two.

Just as I glanced over to watch that, the Tigerseal Firebender got off his back and caught me off guard. I took a couple of forearms full of flame, and though my suit was fireproof, I could still feel the intense heat through my sleeves. That got me riled up again. Just as he was getting ready to strike once more, a roundhouse kick this time, I stomped my foot, raising two discs, and threw my arms across each other in an X, so that the discs started to follow the cross-over motion. Just before they would have met, they hit the Firebender. He took one hit to the left side of his upper rib cage, and another to the right side of his gut. That stopped his next strike, and knocked him off his feet and into zone three. Then I noticed that Umi had been knocked on her back. Looked like the other Waterbender had ended their back-and-forth game. While the Firebender was getting up, I hurtled three more disks at him. He managed to dodge two of them, but the third hit him square in the chest, shoving him over the edge and into the drink. Again, the buzzard went off. _Finally_, I said to myself.

Now I went to aid Umi and Nokoribi against the last Tigerseal. Man, was this guy the tough one. He had them pinned against the rail. Nokoribi was pressed hard, trying to vaporize any splashes sent at her, but her flames were overpowered nearly every time. Umi couldn't turn back the water, for the Tigerseal still had complete control of it. This was my chance to play hero. Using a Firebending move, I jumped up high, taking a couple of disks with me, and kicked around twice in mid air. Fortunately, the Waterbender was too busy assaulting Umi and Nokoribi that he didn't even notice my battle cry until he had a face full of dirt. It wasn't a headshot, but the disks hit him with such force, they exploded with more force than usual, crumbling into smaller than average fragments, and mostly dust.

"Ha-ha! Take that!" I shouted as he went flying close to the back border of zone two. Finally, Umi and Nokoribi had the opportunity to rejoin the real fight as the buzzard went off and we had the green light to advance into the Tigerseal territory. This was it. The three of us started our signature. I levitated two disks, Nokoribi summoned two great fistfuls of flames, and Umi called forth gallons of water. And with a great finale of synchronicity, we all simultaneously hurtled our elements at the last standing Tigerseal. The crowd went crazy. The three of us grinned with pride. The last cylinder up on the wall glowed red, the color of the side of the arena that we got. The announcer, well, did his job and announced our victory.

"Well," I said, "That wasn't too hard, now was it?" We all just laughed.

When we got back to our lockerroom, Kaeru, now ten years old, ran up to us with a plethora of enthusiasm. The thing was, when he ran up to you, he ran with is head foreword, and it was very seldom that he slowed down before ramming into your gut like a mountain yakgoat. "You did it! You did it! You did it! You guys are awesome!" he cried.

"Yeah, we did, buddy," I wheezed after his head bulldozed into my stomach.

"Great job you guys!" said Karasu, book in hand.

"Karasu, Karasu! Did you see them? Did you see them? They were unbelievable!" Kaeru raved.

"What are you talking about, kiddo? I don't need to watch them to know that!" Karasu wasn't really interested in sports, unless they concerned Caribouhorses, but she did love reading. That's why she always brought a book to our matches. Though, she supported us, none the less. She also wasn't one for a hug, otherwise, the scene would have been different. So she simply greeted us with a smile.

"Hey, Mori, thanks for getting us out of that dozy. You were a lifesaver," said Umi gratefully after taking off her helmet.

"Yeah, Thanks!" Nokoribi added.

"It was no problem, guys. But I must admit, I did love seeing the look on that guy's face!" We all chuckled again.

"So does this mean you guys are gonna be in the rest of the season?" asked Karasu. She had put her book down and was enjoying the moment with the rest of us.

"If we can survive? Heck yeah!" Nokoribi answered with a fistpump.

"Yeah, let's just hope those Fireferrets don't kick our butts when we get up there. They're the best ones in our new league, and they've gone undefeated all season."

"So what if they do? I mean, you guys have made it this far. That's somethin' to be proud of," Karasu encouraged. I told you she still supported us.

"Thanks, Karasu," I said greatfully.

"Especially after beating those Boarcupines," she added.

"Yeah, those guys were brutes. I think they payed off the reffery so they could cheat or something," Nokoribi put in.

"You ain't kiddin'. I could've swore when I got splashed in the face, I felt a rock hit me on the cheek. Not tho mention it was an illegal head-shot. Stupid reff..." I ranted on.

"You know, I hear the Wolfbats do the same thing," Umi said. "That's been the only way they've gotten into their legue."

"Nuh-uh!" I said with that tone of disbeleif you hear when country people are gossiping.

"Yup. I even heard they payed the reff off like the Boarkupines did."

"Where'd you hear that?" I asked.

"The Fireferrets. One of them heard a rumor. Me and Bolin hang out sometimes, and he told me about it. They're supposed to play them next week."

This cought my intrest. "Really? You and who-now? Isn't that Bo-guy the Fireferret Earthbender?"

"Yeah, he's funny too."

I gave her a _look._ It said _Sure. You just like "Hanging out", right?_

She looked at me like she was clueless. "What? Why are you looking at me that way?"

"You know why"

"Awwwwww, Umi actually likes somebody," Karasu joked. This was a rare thing to be talking about, because Umi has never really been interested in boys.

"What! No! I was actually thinking that Mori would like him," Said Umi in her defense. Though she did have a small smuggish grin, which ment she was thinking that she had put the perfect bait on the hook. But, despit all the years that we had known eachother, she really didn't know what she was fishing for.

"Dude...you know I already have a boyfriend." I wasn't about to take a date request from somebody we were going to have to beat up.

"But do you liiike him?" Nokoribi teased. The truth was, I didn't really like him like _that_. He was cute and creative and all, but he just wasn't my type, and I had thought of him more as a brother. But when he asked me out, I couldn't just bluntly say "No". I mean, I almost never get asked out, so when I do, from a good guy though, I take it because everybody can love a rose, but it takes someone with heart to love the thorns that come with it.

I was quiet for a second, then, "And what do you know about boys, little one?" I knew she hated being belittled, so it was the perfect pinch after the boyfriend thing.

"I know a good bit about them, because it's common sense," she retorted, crossing her arms.

"It's more complicated than you think, kid."

"Mm-hm," she feined agreement.

"Why is everyone arguing over stupid boys!" Karasu snapped. "No offens, Kaeru."

Kaeru didn't seem to really care, because he was on the other side of the room pretending to be the Avatar.

Tired of talking so much and being in my Pro-bending suit, I let loose a deep sigh and said, "Well, I gotta get out of these stupid clothes and go work with Sora for the show this weekend."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. I've gotta come, too," said Karasu urgently. She stashed her book in her bag with all of her writing supplise in it, and waited for me to get changed back into my regular clothes.

"Man! How could I forget about the show, too!" Umi shouted, facepalming herself. "Crap, and Kawa is no where near ready for walking sideways over the pole! he keeps turning parallel to it. Good thing it's only Tuesday."

This got me thinking. "Why the crap would they make a public Pro-bending match on a school and work night?"


End file.
